


The real magic

by bookmountains



Category: Now You See Me (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-10 14:42:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8921086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookmountains/pseuds/bookmountains
Summary: After the events of the first film, the horsemen wait for news from the Eye. A strange woman appears out of nowhere. Who is she and what is the real magic the Eye guards?





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Beth Winter (BethWinter)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BethWinter/gifts).



Henley idly watched Daniel showing card tricks to Jack. The younger boy's face glowed with admiration as he looked at Daniel. She rolled her eyes. This would only serve to blow up Daniel's ego even more. She tried to think of something to say to stop them that didn't make her sound jealous, when a strange woman blocked her view of the two men.

“How did you get in here”, Henley asked.

The stranger turned to her. She was old, probably in her seventies. Her grey hair was bound together in a bun, her eyes bore into Henley with a frightening intensity. Henley blinked and looked away. 

“The door was locked”, she said. “wasn't it” She hated how weak her voice sounded suddenly. She straightened. “Who are you”, she asked.

“The stranger smiled. “I'm from the Eye”, she said. Finally, her eyes left Henley. She looked around the room. “Where are the other ones?”, she asked.

“Still in their rooms”, Henley said. Then she kicked herself internally for being so easily controlled by the stranger. She looked to the boys for help. They both stared at the stranger, transfixed.

Henley sighed. “Dylan! Merritt!”, she called. “There is – there is someone here. She says she's from the eye.”

Merritt immediately burst from his room, his shirt was unbuttoned and he looked sleepy. “Good morning”, he said.

Daniel glared at him, and Henley knew that only the stranger's presence stopped him from saying something. Daniel followed a strict schedule, starting from 4 am. That was one of the things she really enjoyed loosing after quitting as his assistant. The earlier you start, the better you're prepared, he had always said. Even though they had nothing to prepare for, hiding out in the desert and waiting for the Eye to show up, didn't stop him from annoying everyone with his schedules and his controlling ways.

“I know who you are”, Merritt said. 

The other three horsemen stared at him. The stranger only raised her eyebrows.

“Yeah. He said gleefully. “I read it in your mind.”, he waved his right hand next to his head .

The stranger's mouth twisted impatiently. “I know a lot about magic”, she said. “The real kind and the common kind. Do not waste my time disguising one for the other.”

Henley looked to Daniel. “She's so creepy”, she mouthed.

He nodded, his face uncharacteristically worried.

Merritt smiled sheepishly. “Okay”, he said. “It's a trick, something I taught myself. It always impresses people when you can tell how they're related, especially when they don't look similar.” He grinned. “Especially useful if they kept it a secret, a kid that's adopted or a father who actually isn't.”

Henley looked at the stranger again, searched her face for familiar structures.

“It's really easy if you know what to look for, and a bit about genetics.”, Merritt bragged.

The eyes. The stranger's brown eyes, she had seen the exact same shape and colour, but not with such a piercing stare, but duller, in the face of someone pretending to see much less.

In this moment, she heard a door open.

Dylan entered the room “Mum”, he said.

The stranger smiled, and her whole face changed, turning from harsh and severe to warm. She enclosed Dylan in a tight hug. “My boy”, she said. “How are you?”

Dylan looked embarrassed like a teenager. “I'm fine, Mum.”, he said. With some difficulty, he escaped from her hug. 

Henley stifled a laugh. So did the boys. Merritt watched mother and son with that careful look of indifference he wore when he was observing intently. 

Dylan cleared his throat. “That's my mother”, he said. “Eliza Shrike. She is a part of the council. They lead the eye, decide where the members should interfere and choose new members.”

“So did you choose us”, Jack asked. “Ma'am”, he added.

“No, my boy did it all by himself”, she smiled at Dylan. “But the council had to approve all plans and new members first.”

It was so weird, hearing Dylan be referred to as a boy and the way he acted around his mom.

Mrs Shrike looked at each of them. “Welcome to the Eye”, she said. Her voice easily filled the room. “Each one of you was chosen for his talent with both kinds of magic, real and common, and for his ability to put personal ego away and work for a common cause. ”

Henley grinned. This woman clearly didn't know Daniel.

The eye will help you develop your abilities to the fullest and guide you in ways to use them to protect those who need it. “You will have one more week to practice your magics, then we will give you your first mission. You will all together come up with a plan to solve it.”

“Excuse me?”, said Daniel “What do you mean with real magic? Magic is not real. It's tricks. ”

Henley sighed. She had had this discussion with him a lot of times, like when he refused to believe that noone could fit through his trapdoors without temprarily transforming themselves into someone much thinner, or when he tried to teach her tricks and didn't understand when they didn't work for her.

The woman's mouth thinned. “Didn't you teach them anything?”, she asked Dylan

“You know I don't believe in relying to much on that kind of magic”, Dylan said. He turned to the others “Magic is more than just fancy, unexplainable effects, it's hard work, planning. Making small actions have big, seemingly incredible effects. “ He paused, looking from one to the other. “I wasn't lying when I said that the real magic was taking four solo acts and having them act as a team. It's the small things, the boring, difficult things that make your plans work. The other stuff, teleportation” he turned to Henley “Mind control”, he turned to Merritt”Glamours, even if you don't know when you cast them” Daniel, who looked at the floor in confusion “Telekinesis” Jack glowed with pride. “That's all useful, but only if you know the secrets that make you seem to have this powers when all you have is a few words or a sleight of hand” He smiled at them. “Welcome to the eye. Let's do some magic.”


End file.
